


The Last Night

by TheDisneyOutsider



Series: Iron Dad and His Spider-Son [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Anxious Peter Parker, Anxious Thoughts, Anxious Tony Stark, College Student Peter Parker, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Not Canon Compliant, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Soooo much fluff, The fluff is strong with this one, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is a mess, almost, seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:20:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24898318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDisneyOutsider/pseuds/TheDisneyOutsider
Summary: Peter's about to go off to college. Both he and Tony are having mixed feelings about it.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Iron Dad and His Spider-Son [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1796242
Comments: 14
Kudos: 138





	The Last Night

**Author's Note:**

> I was feeling sad this week, so, I decided to write out my feelings, thus this fic was born!
> 
> I don't know if it's any good, but it made me feel better to write it :)
> 
> Hopefully, you guys will enjoy it too!

Tony was sitting silently in the dark living room of his penthouse; the only light was the soft glow of the TV as it played some random show on mute. What was even on TV at two o'clock in the morning? The amount of time Tony was up at that hour, you’d think he’d know. Tonight, however, he had been too lost in thought to register much of anything, much less a television show.

These nights, the ones that were quiet and dark were a demon to Tony. The nights that allowed him to think too much about things that were better left not thought. The ones that made him feel scared, or worried, or worst of all, lonely. Tony loved dusk and dawn when the air smelt their own versions of different, and the colours danced in the sky in their own unique ways. Something about those times of day were magical, and they made Tony feel like he could conquer anything. But, it was the in-between, when the smells and colours vanished, and he was left with stars as far as the eye could see when Tony would realize just how much was out there, so many unknowns, those were the scariest times. Tony wished he could sleep those times away, but there was something about that feeling that Tony thrived upon all the same. Something that made his body beg to stay awake, no matter how heavy his eyes, or heart, got.

That’s where Tony was right now, sitting on his couch, fallen down a rabbit hole of what-ifs and what-nows. The silence was deafening, so when the soft patter of feet emerged from down the hall, Tony turned instantly.

“Pete?” he called into the darkness as if it would be anyone else.

Peter didn’t say a word, just walked over to the couch, dropping his tired frame beside Tony’s and curling into the man’s side. “Couldn’t sleep?”

Peter shook his head into the man’s shirt, letting out a shaky breath.

“What are you thinking about, bud?”

The kid shifted, pulling his hand up and nibbling on the side of his thumbnail. “That this is my last night sleeping here.”

The older man let his eyes squeeze shut, and he hugged the kid tighter to his side. Peter hadn’t been the only one who’d realized that fact. But right now, he couldn’t let those negative thoughts emerge. He needed to be the one to make things feel okay.

“For now, kid. Not forever. You can come back anytime you need to.”

“It won’t be the same. Everything’s going to change once I leave.”

“Some things will change, not everything. We’ll get used to it, before you know it we’ll have a whole new normal.” If he was attempting to reassure himself in the process, so be it.

“I want to keep our old normal.”

Tony swallowed hard, “I know, kid. Me too.”

“I don’t feel ready, Tony. I know I’m technically an adult now, but I don’t know if I can leave May yet, or you. I’m such a baby.” He fisted his hands into his eyes in an attempt to stop the tears that were threatening to fall and the action made Tony want to do the same.

“You’re not a baby, Pete. You’ve been lucky. You have so many people who love you. And, you’re going somewhere all on your own. But just because we’re not there physically doesn’t mean we won’t be there for you. I’m serious, kid, anything you need, I’ll be there.”

Peter scoffed, “It’s a three and a half-hour drive to MIT.”

“Thirty minutes tops in the suit, kiddo, you can test me on that.”

The boy quieted, leaning his head into his mentor once again, both of them letting the silence close in.

“You know,” Tony spoke up after a while, deciding to be honest, “I’m not feeling great about all this either.”

“You’re not?” he raised his head to look into his mentor’s eyes.

“Worse,” Tony admitted. “You get to go on an exciting adventure, Pete. You’re going to see new things, meet new people, learn all sorts of new things. You’re going to thrive, bud. I just know it.”

He took in a shaky breath. “I have to stay here, with all the memories of a Spider-Kid, bursting into my penthouse, or the lab at all hours, ready to annoy me,” he grinned, but his eyes were wet. “I’ll be sitting in the lab at four o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon, waiting for your spider butt to swing in here for our lab time and then I’ll remember you’re not going to. I know I’m old, but nobody likes change, Pete. So if you’re a baby, well then so am I.”

“I can still visit on weekends.”

“And you will! Don’t you dare get all caught up in your new college student life and forget your old mentor, got it?” he tried to lighten the conversation, but they both knew it was a lost cause. Too much had already been said.

“I still don’t feel good,” the boy sighed, “Like I could cry and throw up, all at once.”

Tony just nodded, rubbing circles into the younger boy’s shoulder, “We’ll get used to it, I promise.”

“And until then?” he asked, looking up to his mentor with trust.

And Tony wanted to imprint the image in his mind. The look of those big, hopeful eyes, full of questions. The feeling of the kid’s body pressed into him, literally leaning on him for support. The soft light illuminating them both as the silence of the night encircled them. But Tony knew it was only a moment, and soon this too would pass. Their lives would continue, and they’d push through and things really _would_ feel okay again.

“Until then, we embrace feeling not okay. We do whatever works to get us through. May and I can take turns visiting you every second night if that’s what it takes. You can come home every single weekend if you need to. We can call every morning and every night. And you know what? One of these days the calls will get less often. Eventually, we’ll be able to push the visits to every second weekend. We won’t feel so lonely because we’ll realize nobody really left.”

He looked down at the boy whose cheeks were now tear-stained, and he felt grateful. Grateful for the time he’d had with him, and grateful for the memories they were still going to make in the future.

“Thanks, Tony,” the small voice whispered after a moment.

“For what, bud?” the man asked, letting his eyes fall shut once more.

“For being one of the reasons that’s making saying goodbye so hard.”

And that’s how they stayed. Light still dancing across the room from the long-forgotten TV. Limbs entangled with each other as sleep finally overtook them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! Please kudos and comment if you enjoyed and have a lovely day!!


End file.
